Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) Short Interest Update

Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,210,000 shares, an increase of 62.6% from the February 28th total of 5,050,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,330,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.9 days. Currently, 0.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Shell

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC grew its position in Shell by 32.3% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 86,417,177 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $5,414,036,000 after acquiring an additional 21,118,234 shares during the period. Voloridge Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Shell by 170.3% during the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 3,463,372 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $216,980,000 after purchasing an additional 2,182,253 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Shell in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $91,716,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new stake in Shell during the fourth quarter worth approximately $83,204,000. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Shell by 29.8% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 3,773,617 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $248,870,000 after acquiring an additional 866,954 shares during the period. 28.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on SHEL. UBS Group upgraded shares of Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Shell in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $81.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. TD Securities increased their price objective on shares of Shell from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Shell presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $80.10.

Shell Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of SHEL traded down $0.55 on Friday, hitting $72.74. 6,538,452 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,169,071. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $67.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $219.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.49, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.47. Shell has a 1 year low of $60.15 and a 1 year high of $74.61.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.74 by ($0.54). Shell had a net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 12.75%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Shell will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.716 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.94%. This is an increase from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. Shell’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.97%.

Shell Company Profile

Shell plc operates as an energy and petrochemical company Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa, the United States, and Rest of the Americas. The company operates through Integrated Gas, Upstream, Marketing, Chemicals and Products, and Renewables and Energy Solutions segments. It explores for and extracts crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids; markets and transports oil and gas; produces gas-to-liquids fuels and other products; and operates upstream and midstream infrastructure to deliver gas to market.